Lee Heedoo, Zhang Duo, Rai Ashish, Jin Yang
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
Internal Medicine, Salem Hospital, North Shore Medical Center, 81 Highland Ave, Salem, MA.
J Pharm Pharm. 2017;4(2):156-158. doi: 10.15436/2377-1313.17.1331. Epub 2017 Oct 27.
Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are nanometer-sized cell-derived membrane vesicles that are released by donor cells and play an important role in intercellular communication. In this short communication, we discuss the obstacles currently faced in EV-mediated drug delivery research. The commonly used vehicle for drug delivery in prevalent practice are liposome's which are synthetic vesicles, these vesicles commonly interact with serum proteins, macrophages and other innate immune response molecules and may be destroyed before they can deliver the drug. EVs however have the same membrane compositions and similar cell surface markers as the cells from which they are derived which thus prevents interactions or provocations of an immune response. In addition, EVs have been used to deliver molecules across tight cellular junctions such as the blood brain barrier. This has led to an interest in using EVs as a novel method for drug delivery. We hereby discuss the potential pitfalls and difficulties that need to be addressed before EVs can be used as drug delivery vehicles in pharmacological research.
细胞外囊泡（EVs）是纳米级的细胞衍生膜囊泡，由供体细胞释放，在细胞间通讯中发挥重要作用。在这篇简短的通讯中，我们讨论了目前在EV介导的药物递送研究中面临的障碍。目前普遍使用的药物递送载体是脂质体，它们是合成囊泡，这些囊泡通常与血清蛋白、巨噬细胞和其他先天免疫反应分子相互作用，并且可能在递送药物之前就被破坏。然而，EVs具有与它们所源自的细胞相同的膜组成和相似的细胞表面标志物，因此可以防止免疫反应的相互作用或激发。此外，EVs已被用于跨紧密细胞连接（如血脑屏障）递送分子。这引发了人们对将EVs用作新型药物递送方法的兴趣。在此，我们讨论在药理学研究中，将EVs用作药物递送载体之前需要解决的潜在陷阱和困难。
